#363: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

Release Date: March 22nd, 1985

Format: DVD

Written by: David Cohen, Martin Kitrosser, and Danny Steinmann

Directed by: Danny Steinmann

1.5 Stars

If you’re like me and you have a tough time remembering all of the Friday the 13th plots, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is the 5th one in the series and is the one without Jason. If you’ve never seen A New Beginning, and you think the idea of a Jason movie without Jason sounds pretty stupid, then you’re right. It is stupid.

I should clarify, though, that A New Beginning is a Jason movie without the real Jason, as he was killed off in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. For A New Beginning, the writers (they needed three of them for this dreck?) come up with a sort of ‘who-done-it?’ plot that suggests that The Final Chapter’s kid hero survivor Tommy, now a teen, might be an imitation Jason, slaughtering off fellow teenage patients one by one at the rural rehabilitation facility he’s been committed to. Or maybe it’s the mysterious handyman working on a farm up the road? Or maybe it’s the redneck imbecile neighbor who enjoys hootin’ and hollerin’ at the teenagers when they wander onto his property? 

None of it is very intriguing, and when you find out who the Jason impersonator really is it’s likely you won’t care very much.

More disappointing than the plot are the performances (annoying, uneven) and the kills (uninspired, each victim like a box being checked off by director Danny Steinmann before he moves on to the next).

It’s too bad. I thought The Final Chapter was a great slasher flick, so zealous, so ungoverned. It was the revelation of the final stage in the metamorphosis of Jason Voorhees, where he was finally unleashed to his full potential. Let the blood rain. 

 Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, in comparison, seems like a limp addendum.